San Luis Obispo Republican Women Federated

San Luis Obispo Republican Women Federated

San Luis Obispo Republican Women organized over 50 years ago with Mary Bell Romero as the first President in 1963. In the early days of SLORWF meetings were luncheons at the Motel Inn. Republican Headquarters were in the Andrews building across the street from the County Courthouse. According to longtime member Gloria Mandells, Republicans were in charge which made it easier to get big time speakers including Barry Goldwater, Jr. The Editor of the Telegram Tribune. George Brand was a Democrat but his wife was a good Republican and somehow the club received great publicity. Times have certainly changed in that regard. JoAnn Jennnings remembers dues were $12 per year (they are now $30). Headquarters had moved to a carpet store on South Higeura. JoAnn worked in the office of Congressman Burt Talcott until he lost an election to a Democrat.
Luncheon meetings were moved to the Madonna Inn in the 80s. There are lots of stories to tell about our club but without someone like “historian and La Fiesta Queen” Del Silva it’s hard to get the details. We miss her.

We have subscribed to a mission statement whose objectives are; to promote an informed electorate, to increase the political effectiveness of women, to foster loyalty and to cooperate with official party organizations to work toward electing Republicans and to be an influence on legislation locally and nationally.

At our June Meeting we had roundtable discussions about our club, a look at ourselves by our members. Positive discussions explored our Mission Statement, increasing membership and how to attract new and younger members. We also looked at fundraising as a way to support our goals and how to best support candidates. This was followed by a retreat at the Cambria home of Sylvia Huth.

Good ideas came from these meetings and we plan to implement them and strengthen our club. We all agreed it would be a huge morale boost to work on and campaigns that successfully elect a new Republican President of the United States as well as candidates for Congress and local elections.